The parent company for online poker site PokerStars obtained a temporary restraining order Monday preventing anyone from buying The CQ Atlantic Club casino while it fights to have its bid restored.

In seeking the order, Rational Group claimed it would suffer “irreparable harm” if another company is allowed to make an offer for the Atlantic City casino, which, it says, it kept afloat with a hefty infusion of cash.

The lawsuit lays out a detailed timeline of what it claims shows bad faith on the part of casino officials, and suggests that those officials are looking around for a better deal in violation of the terms of their preliminary agreement.

Judge Raymond Batten granted the injunction, pending a May 17 hearing. The request accompanied the filing of a lawsuit that seeks to vacate the April 27 voiding of a preliminary deal in which Rational was to purchase the casino from Colony Capital, the current owner. Atlantic Club chief operating officer Michael Frawley – who also is named in the suit – announced on Wednesday that PokerStars had missed a late April deadline to conclude the deal.

The state Division of Gaming Enforcement has said that paperwork on the PokerStars application for a casino license was not completed until April 10. That began the 90-day window for due diligence by the division, after which the findings would be passed on to the state Casino Control Commission. That agency would then have until early August to declare if the application would be accepted.

The suit also seeks to reinstate the original purchase agreement between PokerStars and Colony Capital, for sale of the casino for $15 million. The value of casinos in Atlantic City has plummeted in the past six years, from more than $500 million to less than $50 million.

According to the court filings, Rational and Colony Capital began negotiating last October, with The Atlantic Club’s unfunded pension liability of $30 million cited as a reason why the casino had not sold in spite of being on the market for two years.

A purchase agreement was reached on Dec. 21, according to the suit, and PokerStars asserts that it paid for $11 million in operating shortfalls between November and April. It wasn’t until March 26 that PokerStars found out that the application process would be delayed months beyond the late April deadline.

According to the suit, a Colony Capital executive last week proposed that in return for getting a 10-day extension of the April 26 deadline, PokerStars pay another $6 million to the casino — while also allowing the casino to “entertain offers from other potential buyers.”

Governor Christie signed a bill into law earlier this year permitting online versions of casino games, and the PokerStars brand name would give the company a chance to grab a large market share for online poker once regulations are implemented late in 2013. But only casino operators can offer such internet gambling, which makes the purchase of a casino so important to PokerStars.

“It is likely that defendants believe that, in light of this [new law], they can now sell The Atlantic Club to another buyer while keeping the $11 million paid to them by [PokerStars], which made it possible for The Atlantic Club to continue operating throughout the tough winter season,” PokerStars attorney Wayne Positan wrote.

The U.S. Department of Justice seized the Internet domain of PokerStars and two other similar sites in April 2011 in a crackdown against such gambling as indictments were revealed against 11 men involved in that business.

A year later, PokerStars agreed to forfeit $547 million in revenues and refund money to players whose accounts had been frozen when the ban took effect, as well as to players from rival Full Tilt Poker, which was acquired by Rational Group as part of the deal. The company admitted no criminal wrongdoing in agreeing to the settlement.

[hat tip to diamondflushpoker.com for bringing this lawsuit to my attention first]